LIFE: deal with it.
by E-san
Summary: Just another high school story. Except it's horribly wrong . . . Warnings for shounen ai, future yaoi, possible yuri, hetero couplings, teenage life as we know it and a horrible case of OCCness. Enjoy.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the final fantasy games, nor do I own any of their characters. If the characters are a little out of character, that is to be expected. In fact, that is the point that I wrote this story with. I WANTED them to be OOC. And because I am writing THIS story, I CAN DO THAT! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-*chokes and dies*  
~*~*~  
The alarm clock blared. Not an unusual thing to happen on a Monday in November, but the experience was never pleasant in the slightest. That was the only coherent thought that could move the hand from its place beneath its pillow to slam down on the "stop" button, plastic cracking under the force of the blow. With a quiet moan, the beds occupant rolled slowly off from its place of comfort, to land with a painful 'crack against the hard wood floor. Blinking indignantly, Vincent C. Valentine rose to the land of the living.  
For a moment, he remained in the same position, unable to will his muscles into cooperative motion. However, he sat up with startled jump when moments later a banging that seemed to echo through his head shook him from the after effects of sleep.   
"Vincent!" the person on the other side of the door bellowed. "Your brother is going to leave in FIVE MINUTES! If you are not at the car, you DO NOT get a ride!"   
Footsteps pounded down the hall, signaling the exit of his mother.  
Muttering darkly to himself, he pulled on his ensemble of all black clothing, running a hand through his hair before snapping his red headband on. Picking his back pack up on the way out, he ground his teeth as he saw his brothers girlfriend stride over from her house across the street and place herself shot gun, next to his brother.  
Smiling at his girlfriend, Hojo sat there unmoving while he waited for her to finish kissing him good morning. Vincent threw himself into the back seat, blood red eyes narrowing as he scowled in disgust at her. Hojo, upon seeing this, frowned and pulled away. "I don't think he enjoys our displays of affection quite as much as you do, Lucy."  
Lucrecia blinked and looked back at Vincent, long cinnamon hair spilling back over the seat from its high riding ponytail. After assessing him a moment, she turned back to the front, a scowl firmly set on her features.  
"Yeah, well, not like your brother has ever enjoyed anything in his life. I think he has a distaste for breathing."  
As the car pulled out of the urban home driveway and took its passengers the course that led to the local high school, the boy in the back seat imagined a very pretty brunette burning up in flames . . . . .   
~*~*~  
Zack screamed.  
Dashing around his room, picking up things every moment or so, the tall, blue eyed teenager glared darkly at his four year old pain-in-the-ass brother, who was a little less than intimidated by the act. In fact, the smaller of the two glared with almost more efficiency than the older.   
"GODDAMMIT! Cloud! WHY do you keep unplugging my alarm clock?!" Zack yelled while trying to button the snugly fitting jeans that were still not completely on him.  
Four years old, Cloud glared back stubbornly.  
"It's ANNOYING!" he emphasized. "It just BUZZES and BUZZES and BUZZES and-"  
"Well now I'm going to be late! Thanks a lot, BRAT!"  
Cloud continued to glare for a moment before a benevolent look settled over his childish features. At the first sign of this coming look, Zack felt a weight of lead settle in the pit of his stomach.  
'Oh god, please not this . . . . .' he thought desperately.  
His prayer was in vain, and the moment he heard the first sound come out of Clouds mouth, he knew that it was over.  
"MMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!"  
~*~*~  
  
Baby blue eyes scanned the crowd, searching for new faces to meet, new people to entertain . . . and new girls to flirt with.  
"Do you think you could make yourself a little less obvious?" a quiet voice asked.  
Baby blue eyes scowled.  
"Do you have to follow me around, Makoto?!"  
Makoto sighed and looked at her twin distastefully. He always dressed as best he could to mirror the images he saw in magazines that portrayed what he believed attracted woman to him. Unfortunately, it worked wonderfully. At the moment, he was neck in neck with Irvine Kinneas and the best of them for the title of 'Most Flirtatious Of The Year'.  
'Yeah, right. More like 'Biggest Man-whore Of The year' . . . . . . .' she thought darkly to herself.  
"ZIDANE! We're going too be late to class!" Makoto felt that as sophomores, the two of them must have surely broken a record by now, and had had enough detentions for a lifetime. As she looked back to him, she saw he hadn't even heard her, and was now staring at a small group of girls that had just entered the building. And with them was the only girl that could knock Zidane clear off his high horse.  
'Rinoa . . . . .' she mentally growled to herself. 'Miss Senior 'I'm So Perfect' herself . . . . .'  
"Come ON! ZIDANE!" she said firmly before dragging her brother off to class.  
However, unnoticed by anyone was the petite brunette who stared back at him from her place at Rinoa's side . . . .   
~*~*~  
Garnet sighed sadly as his ever-present sister dragged off the object of her affections. The only time she had ever seen them separate was during classes. She knew this because she shared some advanced placement courses with Makoto, but none what so ever with Zidane. She sighed slightly and turned her attention to her older sister, who was currently speaking with her best friend Aeris. They didn't notice her look. No one ever did. The only time she felt like someone was actually paying attention to her was during her dance classes.  
She smiled slightly to herself. It was a small group, but they were the only friends she had. It was then that it occurred to her that the permission slip for the Nutcracker ballet in December was due today.   
While searching through her book bag, she wondered momentarily if Kuja would mind being her partner for the trip . . . . .   
~*~*~  
"- and then she started screaming about how I should be a more responsible older brother! That I should 'set' a good example!" Zack twitched while pulling his first hour books from his locker, the events of early morning chaos still taking its toll on his level of stress.   
Sephiroth sighed and sent a look to Seymour, who shrugged helplessly before going back to fixing his hair in his locker mirror.  
"Well, Zack," he began in his smooth baritone voice that could liquefy most females into a puddle of goo in two seconds flat (it took that long for them to actually realize he had actually spoken to them). "You should have realized he was going to pull that stunt again."  
Zack sighed deeply and leaned against his painted purple locker.  
"I know, I know . . . I just wish he would stop DOING THIS! It's like his mission in life to ruin MINE!" He slammed his locker shut and stomped off, not bothering to pick up the papers now strewn all over the hallway floor.  
Sephiroth sighed and bent down to pick them up, ignoring the girls behind him as they feasted themselves on the generous view they was getting of his finely toned rear.  
"Seymour, stop staring at my ass."  
Seymour sighed wistfully, rolling his eyes, but adverting them none the less.  
"You should take that I was even glancing at your ass a compliment." Seymour flipped his hair. "The most beautiful bisexual at school was checking out your package."   
Sephiroth snorted lightly as he finished with the papers and stood up, much to the displeasure of the girls behind him.  
"Most beautiful? I don't think so. You've got a lot of people in this school alone to beat up for THAT title." He smirked. "Especially one certain sophomore?" With that last comment floating in the air, Sephiroth left just for class as the bell range once, laughing all the way at the enraged look that marred his friends so self treasured features.  
~*~*~ 


	2. Wake Up Call p 2

Disclaimer: Look! I actually updated! Again, I do not own any of the final fantasy games, nor do I own any of their characters. If the characters are a little out of character, that is to be expected. In fact, that is the point that I wrote this story with. I WANTED them to be OOC. And because I am writing THIS story, I CAN DO THAT! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA- *chokes and dies for the second time*

~*~*~

Kuja had been sitting at his first hour desk since the doors had been opened early that morning. He sat there quietly, ignoring the world, even as his fellow students filed into the classroom, not even noticing the dirty looks or snickering glances that were tossed in his direction. His entire mind was focused on perfecting the dance moves inside his head to the music that was playing from his headphones to his mind. He lost himself to the music, he danced to the music, he became one with the music . . . . . _'I am the music . . . .'_

And then it ended. He fell out of his chair as his world snapped into the here and now of his present day life. And with this, he proceeded to glare at the source of his abrupt interruption, who was currently taking hold atop his desk.

"Good morning, Yuffie. Why are you standing on my desk?" Yuffie smiled down at him brightly enough to have been in second place with the sun (or at least she seemed to be starting a rivalry). Kuja cringed, taking out his earphones before carefully placing them safely within his book bag. 

"Well, you see, I'm keeping an eye out for Yuna and Rikku, because coach said he wanted to talk to Yuna, and Yuna's always hanging out with Rikku," she face scowled slightly at this. "I figured all I had to do was look for Rikku. She's really hard to miss, you know!" All the others entering the classroom for their first hour class barely even gave Yuffie a second glance. This behavior was hardly new. She most likely would have received more looks had she NOT done something like this. 

Kuja sighed while pulling a hand through his hair, having long ago accepted the freshman cheerleader's astute form of _'perkiness' _that never seemed to fail . . . Rain or shine . . . It was always there. Unfortunately.

The second bell rang and the teacher dragged herself in, looking far more bedraggled than any teacher ought to look. Yuffie took no mind, jumping up and down, waving her hand frantically. "Oh! Oh! Can I take role call?! Can I?! Can I?!"

The teacher sighed, pulling a hand through her still shower-wet hair. "Go ahead Yuffie." Miss Trepe sat down at her desk with a face of resignation. As the rest of the school board had, she had gotten used to Yuffie's antics. However, considering this was her first year teaching and her extremely young age, Kuja could only sigh in pity for the poor woman. The rest of her teaching career was going to be permanently scarred by this first year . . . and of all the students she could have received . . . she had to get Yuffie. 

And THAT just sucked.

A few faces looked up from where they were copying the assignment, as the door slammed open, signaling the arrival of the only student tardy that morning.

"Ooooh! You're in trouble now, Vinnie!" Yuffie and a couple other freshman who hadn't been awake long enough to realize not to giggled at her outburst while Vincent ignored them, walking straight to his seat, in the back row next to Kuja.

Miss Trepe sighed. "I assume you had car trouble, Vincent? You're excused," she said at his affirmative nod. Kuja looked over his tightly pulled features and immediately recognized the look.

"The bitch was molesting your brother again, I take it."

" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

Kuja sighed. "So your brother is dating a skank, who is trying to get in his pants for the only reason that he's a thousand times smarter than she is. Big deal. It's not a common thing for younger brothers to try and protect their older siblings. He's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

Vincent sighed, placing his head down against the coolness of the desk. " . . . . . He has NO idea what she's doing . . . that's what bothers me." He frowned slightly. "Can you imagine what would happen if he realized? He truly loves her, I think. And maybe she truly loves him back, in her own sick, twisted kind of way. But she's been doing this for years . . . . I just don't think it's wise for her to be doing this. For him AND her."

Kuja clicked his tongue. "Come, come now. Don't lie. You don't give a rat's ass about that bitch. Your just worried your brother will break down if he finds out." Kuja rolled his eyes. "You are SUCH a loving brother . . . . ."

Vincent muttered, burying his face in his arms. "Not like he even needs help having mental breakdowns . . . . . ."

~*~*~

Hojo glanced at his Lucrecia and smiled slightly as she toiled over the class work he had completed a while ago. She barely noticed as he rose a hand quietly to play with a stray lock of her hair that had escaped the confines of her ponytail. _' . . . . . . So beautiful . . . . .'_

"Mister Valentine, since you _obviously_ have so much time on your hands, don't you think you should be doing something productive like studying? An alternative to molesting Miss Sobrenine's hair?" Professor Garland said coldly, casting him a glance that promised nothing more than ultimate humiliation. The old mans promise proved true as the snickers of a few of his classmates floated in the air, and he felt his cheeks heat up with a flush of embarrassment. He obviously was not the only one, as his Lucy quickly jerked her hair from his grasp and turned to glare and hiss at him quietly.

__

"What do you think you're doing?!" With a look that was more irritated than the one before (if that was even possible) and turned back to her work, sparing him no more than that. 

Hojo sighed. Well, what should he have expected? A sweet blush and giggle at him doing something so pathetically romantic one might as well have laughed? A tight smile stretched across his face as he determined that it was a foolish action, worth condemnation. After all, he was distracting his fair Lucy away from her work!

He nodded, accepting his verdict as he pulled out the notes on the '_top-secret' _project he and Lucrecia had working dedicatedly on for months . . . . . 

__

'It's almost done now . . . . Almost . . . . . But not quite.' He smiled brightly to no one but himself as he envisioned how happy things would be upon the completion of the project . . . . 

__

How happy his Lucy would be.

~*~*~

Yuna sighed as she slowly piled her books in her locker for the fifth time that morning. Things just weren't going her way . . . . Again. 

__

'Then again,' she thought bitterly. _'When was the last time the went my way?'_ Turning to her backpack, she put inside it her advanced chemistry book, ignoring the nasty look she received from her fellow freshman as they took this action as a way of gloating. She found it no wonder she had no friends. If she were them, she wouldn't want to be her friend either, and as her books once again tumbled from her overstuffed locker, she could only add it to the list of her unforgivable faults: clumsiness, intelligence and worst of all, _glasses_.

She sighed, pushing them up to the bridge of her nose before zipping up her bag and turning to cram her locker shut with the unbelievable amount of books contained within. As she slowly forced it closed, in the corner of her eyes, she caught a shock of blond, bobbing up and down in her direction as it raced down the halls, crowds no thinning as the time for the bell to ring grew near.

__

"YUUUNIIIIIE!"

It was official. The shock of blond, as it rammed into her, was none other than Rikku. Her cousin and only . . . . . friend. Yuna sighed.

"Good morning, Rikku. How are you?"

Rikku giggled in a way that only one on a perpetual sugar high could accomplish. 

"Great! And you? Did you sleep well? Oh! All the stuff keeps falling out of your locker again! Here! Let me help!" As Rikku proceeded to help (which consisted of ramming everything into her locker with dangerous speed and pressure), Yuna dredged up a smile to appear on her face for no one else but her cousin. She was, after all, Rikku's favorite cousin.

'More like the only one who can stand her cheerfulness in the morning,' Yuna thought wryly before picking up her bag and smiling at her green-eyed cousin softly. "Come on, Rikku. We have to get to class."

"Righty-Oh!" She jumped up, grabbing her own bag and wrenched her cousins wrist, leading her down the hall at a speed no less than mind blowing as the bell began to ring.

As she was dragged along, her eyes wandered across the faces of those sitting amongst the couches in the commons. As if in slow motion, she scanned every student's facial expression, seeing the dark, light and grumpy looks about them until . . . . . 

Grey eyes, cold as winter, she met from their position of staring directly at her.

__

'It's him . . . . He's staring at me . . . . . Again.' She felt a chill run up her spine like a rake of icy fingers. From beneath that gentle fall of pale brown hair, those eyes had stared at her every time she became aware of their owner, and had been doing so since the beginning of that year. Probably even when she was not aware of it . . . . 

She shuddered, tearing her eyes from his, and forcing herself to focus on the hall ahead of her. 

__

'Face ever expressionless, and yet his eyes are ever watchful . . . .' She only wished she knew this person's name. Maybe he would seem more human, then, and less of the phantom he so closely resembled in actions alone. A blush fought its way to the surface of her cheek. _'No . . . . Certainly not a phantom n appearance- STOP! He's stalking you! Banish him from your thoughts!'_ With a stubborn chin set forward, she set to focus on the things far more important to the there and then.

And yet, as she ran to the safety of her first hour class, she was unable to banish the closed expression about her phantoms elfin face . . . . 

~*~*~

E-san: Hey! Here I am! Look at me! I UPDATED! *Waits for applause and scowls when she doesn't get it* Any-ways, I'm waiting for reviews. Want reviews. NEED reviews. Can TASTE the REVIEWS!!! (Okie, so that was a bit dramatic.) I have no idea where this story is going, by the way, so if you have any ideas, just leave them in the REVIEW area. I'll take all into consideration and give due rights to those who offered used ideas. Thanks a lot. Btw, REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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